Data broker sites collect your name, address, phone number, age and relatives from public records, then publish it. You never signed up and you were never asked.
This page gives you the prompt that gets ChatGPT to find and remove you, plus the list of sites worth doing by hand. Set aside about 30 minutes. Most of it is waiting.
Read this first
You need a paid ChatGPT plan. The tool doing the work is called cloud browser, and it doesn’t run on Free or Go.
It only works in a Work session. Not a normal chat.
This is free. No legitimate data broker can charge you to remove your details. If a site asks for payment to take you down, it’s not a real opt-out.
Most of these sites are American. If you’ve never lived in the US, you’ll be on fewer of them. Run the scan first and see what actually comes back before you spend an afternoon on it.
Use a separate email address. You’re about to hand your email to dozens of companies that sell data. Make a free one for this and use it for nothing else.
It doesn’t stay done. These sites rebuild your profile from public records. Estimates vary from about 30 days to 6 months. Put a reminder in your phone for 3 months and run it again.
Step 1: Start the right kind of session
- Open ChatGPT
- Start a new Work session
- Make sure cloud browser is switched on
You’ll know it worked when you can ask it to open a website, and it actually does rather than telling you it can’t browse.
Step 2: Find out how exposed you are
Do this before anything else. It takes 5 minutes and tells you whether the rest is even worth doing.
Search the data broker and people-search sites for my personal information. I'm [full name], I live in [suburb, state], I'm [age], and I've previously lived in [previous suburbs].
For each site you find me on, tell me the site name, what information it's showing, and the link to my listing. Don't submit anything yet, I just want the list.Save whatever it gives you. That list is what you’ll work through, and it’s what you’ll check against in 3 months.
Step 3: Get it to submit the removals
Go through that list one site at a time. For each one, find the opt-out or data removal page, and submit a removal request for my listing using [your throwaway email].
Don't create an account on any site. If a site requires an account to opt out, skip it and tell me.
When you're done, give me a table with three columns: site, submitted yes or no, and what still needs me.The account rule matters. Some sites make you register before they’ll remove you, which hands them more information than they had to start with.
You can close your laptop. Cloud browser keeps running once it’s started.
Step 4: The bits it can’t do
It will stop and ask you when a site wants a sign-in, a confirmation, or something typed that only a person can do.
And every removal request sends a confirmation email. Nothing is actually removed until you click the link in it. That part is always yours.
- Open your throwaway inbox
- Click every confirmation link
- Check the junk folder, a lot of them land there
You’ll know it worked when you search your own name and the listings start dropping off. Give it a week or two.
The order that actually matters
Start with the upstream ones. A handful of large companies collect the data and sell it on to everyone else. Remove yourself from those first, wait about a week, and a chunk of the smaller sites clear out on their own.
| Do these first | What they are |
|---|---|
| Acxiom | Large aggregator, feeds many smaller sites |
| LexisNexis | Large aggregator |
| Infotracer | Aggregator |
| Data Axle | Aggregator |
Then the people-search sites. These are the ones that turn up when someone googles your name.
| Site | Why it’s on the list |
|---|---|
| Whitepages | One of the biggest and oldest. Often the first result on your name |
| Spokeo | Very high traffic |
| BeenVerified | Background check and people search |
| Intelius | Covers several other sites at once |
| PeopleFinders | People search |
| MyLife | People search, also runs a reputation score |
| TruthFinder | Background checks |
| FastPeopleSearch | Free lookup, no paywall, so it’s very exposed |
| TruePeopleSearch | Same, free and open |
| Nuwber | People search |
| PeopleLooker | Shares a removal database with BeenVerified |
| USSearch | People search |
| Zabasearch | Older, still indexed |
| That’s Them | Address and phone lookup |
The two that fight back: Radaris and PeekYou are known for dragging out removals, or demanding you make an account first. Do them last, and don’t be surprised if they take a few goes.
There are hundreds more beyond this. The list above is the ones with the most exposure.
If something goes wrong
| What’s happening | What to do |
|---|---|
| It says it can’t browse websites | You’re in a normal chat, or cloud browser is off. Start a Work session |
| No cloud browser option at all | It’s not on the free plan |
| It stopped halfway through | It’s waiting on you. Check the conversation for a question |
| A site wants me to create an account | Skip it. You’re handing over more than you’re removing |
| A site is asking for money | It’s not a real opt-out. Removal is always free |
| Nothing has been removed | Check your throwaway inbox. Nothing happens until you click the confirmation links |
| I’m back on there again | Normal. They rebuild from public records. Run it again |
| It found almost nothing | Likely because you’re not American. That’s a good result |
Worth knowing
You’re giving them your details to remove your details. That’s the awkward part of every opt-out, and it’s why the throwaway email matters.
It won’t get everything. Hundreds of these sites exist and new ones launch constantly, buying their data from the ones you just left.
Public records stay public. This removes you from the companies republishing and selling that information. It doesn’t remove the underlying records.
Put a 3 month reminder in your phone now. The people who stay off these sites are the ones who repeat it, not the ones who did a thorough job once.